In a column titled, "The Reverse-Joads of California," Finley takes the news that people are leaving the Golden State as the mirror image of the 1930s influx of destitute farmers from the Midwest Dust Bowl.

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"Over the past two decades, a net 3.4 million people have moved out of California for other states," Finley writes. "But contrary to conservative lore, there has been no millionaires' march to Texas or other states with no income tax. In fact, since 2005 California has experienced a net in-migration of households earning more than $200,000, according to the U.S. Census's American Community Survey."

Replies Stephens: "You don’t have to be a State of Jefferson separatist to admit that our state has problems. I’m as loyal a California patriot as they come, so I know that our budget is a mess, our schools are distressed, and our cities, through improving, have a long way to go. But I’m still going to defend California, and its land-use policies, against specious reasoning and gross distortions."